EXCLUSIVE: A Father, a Son, a Little Big Brother, and a Number
A look at a how Kenyon Martin Jr. got the No. 6 jersey from former Clipper stalwart DeAndre Jordan.
Jersey numbers have become a big deal in the world of the NBA.
LeBron James has famously returned to his No. 23 jersey after spending last season wearing No. 6, a decision he reportedly made “out of respect” for the late Bill Russell. The NBA retired Russell’s No. 6 jersey, one he made famous during his illustrious 13-year career with the Boston Celtics, after the legend passed away in July 2022.
That No. 6 jersey is one to watch around the league as several players have been grandfathered into the special clause that allows players who were already wearing said number to continue sporting it. That’s where Kenyon Martin Jr. comes in.
Martin, who is entering his fourth season in the league, has always worn the No. 6 jersey in the NBA. In high school, both at Sierra Canyon and IMG Academy, Martin wore No. 4. But due to his time in the league and already having worn No. 6, it made Martin eligible to pick the number since he was grandfathered in. There was just one tiny hiccup. Well, a 6-foot-11 hiccup.
DeAndre Jordan has not played for the LA Clippers since 2018. That summer, Jordan hit free agency after a 10-year career with the franchise. Jordan, who won a championship this past season with the Denver Nuggets, still holds the franchise rebounding record for the Clippers, hauling in 7,988 rebounds. It’s a number so out of reach that the nearest person on the list is still 3,278 rebounds behind Jordan.
The former second-round pick is also the franchise leader in blocks, swatting away 1,277 shots. Jordan also has played the most games by any player in Clippers franchise history, suiting up 750 times for the organization. He ranks first in field goal percentage, second in minutes played, sixth in field goals, and eighth in points. When you look at the Clippers’ franchise Top 10 leaderboard, you can find Jordan’s name seemingly everywhere.
Because of Jordan’s illustrious career with the Clippers — Jordan made All-Defensive First Team appearances in 2015 and 2016, the All-Star team in 2017, and was a three-time All-NBA member (2015, 2016, 2017) during his time with the franchise — his No. 6 jersey was blocked off by the team, along with Blake Griffin (No. 32) and Chris Paul (No. 3) due to the trio’s impact on the organization’s culture.
From the moment of the NBA/ABA merger in 1976 until the team acquired Chris Paul in December 2011, the LA Clippers ranked 29th out of the 30 NBA teams in win percentage (.354) with only the Memphis Grizzlies (.352) trailing them. After Paul’s arrival and until his trade to Houston in 2017, the Clippers were tied for third in win percentage (.658). It was an incredible turnaround from the bowels of despair, and the status quo set by that trio has been kept even long after their respective departures. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, the first without any of the three linchpins, the Clippers are sixth in win percentage (.590). The Clippers’ current run of 12 consecutive winning seasons is the longest active streak in the NBA and tied for the seventh-longest in league history.
It must have been a pretty special set of circumstances for the Clippers to give away a jersey number from that respected trio, and it turns out that it was.
“You know, me and (DeAndre Jordan) go way back, man, from my days with the Clippers,” Kenyon Martin Sr. told Russo Writes in an exclusive interview.
“It’s a special number for DJ. I know that. So, (Kenyon Martin Jr.) wanted to wear it and, you know, DJ look [sic] at him kind of like a little brother in a way, you know what I’m saying? So, it was kind of dope for him. I think KJ would have did [sic] it anyways, but DJ [was] like, ‘Yeah, go ahead young fella.’ That was dope.”
Kenyon Martin Sr., KJ’s dad, was a member of the Clippers for one season in 2011-12 when he signed with the team that February after a stint in the Chinese Basketball Association.
The elder Martin averaged 5.2 points and 4.3 rebounds in 42 games for the Clippers as he helped solidify a bench rotation that had severely lacked a backup big man until his arrival. Martin was pivotal in the team’s thrilling seven-game series victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, providing key minutes in a massive Game 1 comeback and putting up 11 points and 10 rebounds in a road Game 7 to clinch the series.
It was there during that season that Martin and Jordan formed a bond.
“Him and Blake both was [sic] little brothers [to me] at the time, you know what I’m saying?” Martin said when asked by Russo Writes what his relationship was with Jordan during their time together.
“But me and DJ being Texas boys, him being from Houston, me being from Dallas, that Texas connection went a little further. But he’s definitely a little brother to me. Him leaning on me, asking questions, and me being just the veteran that I was accustomed to being for him. That was great.”
The younger Martin, affectionately referred to as KJ, was 11 years old when his father was with the Clippers. It was a time that KJ fondly remembers, mainly because of Jordan.
“Athletic freak,” Martin recalls when asked by Russo Writes what he remembers of Jordan’s time with the Clippers. “That’s what I can remember. The dunks and everything. Just me [being] young. Seeing him, Blake, my dad, just dunk live. That’s what I remember the most.”
Martin has seen Jordan a lot more in recent years as the two have met on the floor as opponents. The pair have played against each other six times since Martin’s NBA arrival in 2020, with Jordan’s teams winning five of them.
“I’ve been going to the games with my dad and stuff, and these past couple years playing against DJ, we’ll always talk, we’ll always mess around with each other,” Martin divulged to Russo Writes. “So it’s always good seeing him.”
For Martin, he’s turned into the “athletic freak” that he fondly remembers Jordan as. Last season, the 6-foot-6 forward slammed home 173 dunks. It put Martin seventh in the NBA, but more astonishing is that Martin was the only player in the top ten to be listed shorter than 6-foot-8. Since coming into the league, Martin has accumulated 350 dunks, which puts him 11th in the NBA during that time.
After being acquired by the Clippers, Martin wanted to keep his No. 6 jersey that he’s worn since getting drafted. So much so that Martin just assumed he could wear it since it wasn’t retired by the team in an official capacity.
“I didn’t reach out to anybody,” Martin told Russo Writes. “I just — I was told like, ‘Ah, you can’t wear No. 6.’ I was like, ‘Yes, I can. I’ve been wearing it before it got retired throughout the NBA and y’all don’t have No. 6 retired, so I’m allowed to.’ So I talked to the NBPA and they kinda figured it out.”
Martin put in a phone call to the National Basketball Players Association to sort the situation out since he assumed it was directly tied to Russell’s league-wide retired number.
“That’s what they said. I called the NBPA and they kinda — whatever they did they sorted it out.”
One assumes the Clippers will officially retire Jordan’s number at some point down the line once his career is over and they can make it happen, especially when their new Intuit Dome arena opens up starting in 2024-25. Until then, though, it’ll be kept in Martin’s trusted hands, catapulting jaw-dropping dunks through the rim like his predecessor.
DeAndre Jordan declined to comment when approached for this story.